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Cambridge Infectious Diseases People

Other relevant links

• Cambridge Infectious Disease profile

Research description

My research interests centre on the dynamics processes found at the heart of every infectious disease, at scales from the cellular and sub-cellular through to the more traditionally studied epidemiological scales of the population and metapopulation. Wherever appropriate, mathematical modelling and more traditional epidemiological approaches are combined with detailed molecular studies of pathogen and host in a multidisciplinary framework. All studies of any infection must also consider the ecology of the host as well as of the infection itself and its pathogenesis.

I have particular interests in the epidemiological dynamics of various virus infections of man and animals, including influenza, bluetongue and the related African horse sickness and emergent lyssavirus and henipavirus infections. Bovine Tuberculosis also poses interesting challenges at the interface of science and policy. Funded studies include the transmission dynamics of mammalian influenza viruses and their variants through natural hosts, orbivirus dynamics and bovine tuberculosis control. I co-supervise several students working on the dynamics of emergent viral infections in bats, in particular Eidolon helvum, in Ghana.

Main collaborators

• Dr Julia Gog, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge
• Dr Derek Smith, Department of Zoology, Cambridge
• Dr John McCauley, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill
• Profs Bryan Grenfell and Eddie Holmes, Penn State University
• Profs Gordon Dougan and Julian Parkhill, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
• Dr Andrew Cunningham, Institute of Zoology
• Dr Ian Brown and Prof Tony Fooks, Veterinary Laboratories Agency
• Dr Richard Suu-Ire, Ghana Department of Wildlife and Veterinary Sevices
• Dr Debra Elton, Animal Health Trust
• Prof Philip Mellor and Drs Simon Gubbins and Colin Butter, Institute for Animal Health

Key publications since 2001

• Gubbins, S., Carpenter, S., Baylis, M., Wood, J.L. & Mellor, P.S. (2008) Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 22, 363-371
• Wood, J.L.N. & Adams, V. (2006) Epidemiological approaches to safety investigations. Veterinary Microbiology 117, 66-70 doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2006.04.011
• Wood, J.L.N., Kelly, L., Cardwell, J. & Park, A.W. (2005) Results of a quantitative risk assessment of the risks of reducing swabbing requirements for the detection of Taylorella equigenitalis. Veterinary Record 157, 41-46
• Wood, J.L.N., Newton, J.R., Chanter, N. & Mumford, J.A. (2005) Respiratory infections and signs of disease in young British racehorses. Equine veterinary journal 37, 236-242
• Wood, J.L.N., Newton, J.R., Chanter, N. & Mumford, J.A. (2005) The association between respiratory disease and bacterial and viral infections in British racehorses. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 43, 120-126 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.1.120-126.2005
• Daly, J.M., Yates, P.J. Newton, J.R., Park, A.W., Henley, W., Wood, J.L.N., Davis-Poynter, N. & Mumford, J.A. (2004) Evidence supporting recommendation that strains from each of the two co-circulating lineages of H3N8 equine influenza virus are included in vaccines. Vaccine 22, 4101-4109. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2004.02.048
• Edwards, D.S., Henley; W.E., Ely, E. & Wood, J.L.N. (2004) Vaccination and ill health in dogs: A lack of temporal association and evidence of equivalence. Vaccine 22, 3270-3273 doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2004.03.038
• Castillo-Olivares, J. & Wood, J.L.N. (2004) West Nile virus infection of horses. Veterinary Research 35, 467-483
• Park, A.W., J.L.N. Wood, J.M. Daly, J.R. Newton, K. Glass, W. Henley, J.A. Mumford, B.T. Grenfell (2004) The effects of strain heterology on the epidemiology of equine influenza in a vaccinated population. Proc Roy Soc B 271, 1547-1555 DOI:10.1098/rspb.2004.2766
• Grenfell, B.T., Pybus, O.G., Gog, J.R., Wood, J.L.N., Daly, J.M. Mumford, J.A. & Holmes, E.C. (2004) Unifying the epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics of pathogens. Science 303, 327-332